Citizens' Group Tears Into Free Trade Agreement

A citizens' group yesterday tore into the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying it will cost the Lehigh Valley jobs and threaten the environment.

The agreement, hailed by businesses as a long-overdue plan for free trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico, took shots from Citizen Action of Pennsylvania and a group of about 30 people that included representatives of senior citizens, farmers and organized labor.

The North American Free Trade Agreement "has galvanized a peoples movement like virtually no other issue," said Tony Galfano, a Citizen Action coordinator.

"The reason is quite simple," he said. "There's so much at stake, yet everything is so secretive and non-participatory."

Galfano said the agreement was negotiated behind closed doors with little concern for the environment or American workers.

Reached in August after more than a year of negotiations, the agreement would create a trading market with 370 million people and $6 trillion in goods and services traded every year. Proponents, including the Bush administration, say it will provide consumers of all three nations with access to more goods at lower costs and will boost growth and create jobs.

Yesterday's contingent came down heavily on the side of the agreement's opponents, who contend that American companies will flee to Mexico to seek cheap labor.

The groups used as a backdrop for the demonstration the former Black & Decker plant on South 12th Street, which they said was a symbol of the decline of manufacturing in the Lehigh Valley. The plant, which had once employed 870 workers, closed in 1984.

Citizen Action, a grassroots environmental group, said the agreement won't guarantee enforcement of environmental and safety regulations in Mexico.

Speakers at the half-hour rally -- attended by a crowd carrying signs including `Nix NAFTA,' `Don't Export Our Jobs,' `Job Incentives not Tax Incentives' -- also included representatives from the Pennsylvania Social Services Union, the Teamsters and congressional candidate Paul McHale.

Backers of the agreement, which must receive legislative approval in the three countries, concede that some unskilled workers in the United States could lose their jobs if the accord is approved.

That rankled Dave Lockhart, of the National Council of Senior Citizens, who said most older working Americans are considered unskilled laborers, meaning they have a high school education.

"That's 70 percent of the work force in this country," Lockhart said.

Paul McHale, running against incumbent Don Ritter in the 15th District, spoke out against the agreement, saying "many labor-intensive" jobs will be lost if the accord is signed.

He also took the opportunity to pin the blame on the Republicans.

"I am typically not a very cynical person but I'm very suspicious about the timing on this agreement," said McHale, pointing out that Bush announced the agreement within days of the Republican National Convention.

"I have regrettably come to the conclusion that the timing was specifically laid out to coincide with the Republican National Convention."

He also blasted Ritter's environmental record, charging that Ritter has ignored environmental issues.

"My belief is that we'll have a NAFTA," McHale said. "Hopefully it won't be this one."